Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

kranga.notion.site

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 460 posts

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#71

Post by bartread »

tcbawo wrote: post #41
sjducb wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At work, would you rather have a boss that makes you implement dumb ideas? Or would you prefer a boss who recognises that your idea is better, then rewards you for it? You are interviewing them too. I would also have hired the candidate.

The author’s answer was clever, but also unconventional. The company was probably looking for someone that would write code in a shared codebase that other developers will need to contribute to and maintain. Thinking outside the box and not following suggestions might have raised a red flag that this person might be a loose cannon. In a small company, hiring someone smart but unwilling to follow directions can be det…

Exactly. On one level I loved this solution but it’s definitely “clever code” and, unless there is a particularly strong requirement driving it (e.g., performance), I don’t particularly like clever code in production systems.

The problem of “What does this do?” is prevalent enough, and occurs often enough under pressure, without adding excessive niftiness into the mix.

I do still like the solution though.

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#72

Post by IshKebab »

jcz_nz wrote: post #2

Very clever! Also, I’d steer absolutely clear of any company that does this. This doesn’t assess anything meaningful, it’s an ego trip for the interviewer. Ugh.

I think it's supposed to test refactoring and debugging abilities, but it just didn't work and they didn't know what to do. Anyway trying to argue that 0 is not a multiple of 3 is a big red flag.

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#73

Post by raverbashing »

I'm getting peeved by interviews that asks for tests (especially take home tests)

The main issue that I see is that interviewers get extra picky with all the minor details and they fail candidates due to minor issues that would get solved in a code review or just with a bit more time

And while fizzbuzz using strings only is cool, it seems it didn't add anything to the predictive power of the interview

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#74

Post by constantcrying »

chvid wrote: post #29

Asking a trivial question is a simple way to test a person’s basic skill but also more importantly his ability to communicate and work with others who may not have the same level of expertise. If you use it as a chance to make a mockery of the interview process/interviewer then perhaps that is not a good idea if you actually want the job.

The interview deserves to be mocked. It wasn't someone being asked a few trivial questions, but 45 minutes of being asked to go through ridiculous hoops.

If you are concerned about a candidates team skills. Talk to them, do not interpret it based on, how they engage with some stupid coding puzzles.

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#75

Post by pnw_throwaway »

yosito wrote: post #18

This article describes everything that's wrong with tech hiring these days. There is zero evidence that success on these arbitrary programming riddles have any correlation with success on the job, and yet we force candidates through a gauntlet of completely unrealistic brain teasers solving problems that they will literally never have to solve on the job. I've recently completed half a dozen 2-4 hour coding challenge…

How much of the article did you read? They were looking for a senior, with more than twice the experience the poster has. Being able to pump out algos is only part of the job.

While there a solution is clever, it’s not terribly maintainable and likely didn’t fit the bill.

Beyond that, things like soft skills matter for senior roles. The author can write, there’s no denying that, but we don’t know how well they can explain the why of their solution. It’s very likely the interviewers wanted more traditional functions that were unit-testable.

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#76

Post by mariomash »

You have the coding and reasoning part perfect (but maybe not straightforward to understand) and you also know the things you are missing. - University degree: not necessary, get certifications or equivalent experience (upwork)? - English: this part is really important. find or hire a native speaker and start practicing. - AWS/GCP/anything else... get certifications or free courses.

My only complaint about your code: in a company you probably want them to approve your PRs, sometimes your peers will code worse than you, so better if the code is less stilted and maybe objectively “worse”, but easy to understand at a glance. but that part also depends on the interviewer.... better to ask first, it's part of working in a team.

I'm sure you'll soon be hired for 50k+.

Suerte.

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#77

Post by constantcrying »

mgaunard wrote: post #50

Normally, you learn during high school that when you take any exam, you should not reply with the best or smartest answer, but with the answer the teacher expects. The same applies to interviews.

Stupid questions deserve stupid answers.

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#78

Post by rho4 »

The 30-lines rule annoyed me the most.

Don't force 'clever' solutions if you're looking for readability, maintainability, changeability, debuggability etc.

On the other hand, our company doesn't do any technical interviews at all, so there's that.

Post reply on HN